A few months ago we saw Unbroken, an Angelina Jolie-directed movie set in World War 2.

Against The Sun is the exact same story as Unbroken and has similar characters, but the results are slightly better

The film chronicled the real life story of three American soldiers marooned at sea after their aircraft is shot down. The majority of the film followed their struggle in the searing sun, with no food and drinkable water, tarnishing health, and the eventual survival. This new film Against The Sun is the exact same story, with similar characters, but slightly better results.

Directed by Brian Falk, Against The Sun is the indie version of Unbroken. Unfortunately, the majority of this movie is the first half of Unbroken, and anyone who has seen that movie will find not find anything new in this one. This time we have Tom Felton (from the Harry Potter movies), Jake Abel and Garrett Dilahunt in the South Pacific ocean, also based on the real life story of US Navy airmen who reached the end of their strengths and survived all odds.

This film has a significantly lower budget compared to its Jolie counterpart, but it actually helps make the film a bit more interesting. There is no over the top action scene, or melodramatic twists or mawkish contrivances – this is just a small, more intimate portrayal of people marooned at sea. All of the expected stuff is present — including the sharks and the eventual storm, and the fight for food, but it’s rendered in a surprisingly believable way. The only time the film makes you impatient is during the first 15 minutes preceding the crash — the audience already knows what’s going to happen so it seems futile to waste time before the big event.

When there isn’t anything else in the way of the plot, the only thing we can bank on is the characters, and the filmmaker makes them fairly interesting, and more importantly, makes us root for them. It helps that the acting from all three leads is great, Felton in particular is a far cry from his Draco Malfoy persona. All the actors lose weight as the film progresses, which only helps the film seem more engrossing than expected. The camaraderie between the three is also fun, and the lack of blaring Hollywoodised music is a nice change. It’s a pity that this film didn’t get as much traction as Unbroken, it’s better in almost every way.